FILE PHOTO: Family members of Venezuelan migrants, who the U.S. alleged were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, hold signs and pictures of their loved ones, during a protest outside the United Nations building, in Caracas, Venezuela April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo Image:Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

El Salvador to send detained Venezuelans home in swap for Americans, sources say

18 Jul 2025, 19:15 by Aram Roston and Ted Hesson · Japan Today

WASHINGTON — El Salvador's government will send detained Venezuelans home in exchange for Americans held in Venezuela, two U.S. government officials told Reuters on Friday, as Venezuela announced the return of seven migrant children who had been separated from their families.

One of the officials said El Salvador would send 238 Venezuelans held in its maximum security CECOT prison to Caracas and that the Venezuelan government would release five U.S. citizens and five U.S. permanent residents to American custody.

The second official confirmed the exchange was taking place and said the figures appeared to be close to what was expected.

Some family members of migrants held at CECOT said they received calls from the Venezuelan government to come to Caracas.

Venezuela's Communications Ministry and El Salvador's presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the possible exchange.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and First Lady Cilia Flores said seven migrant children who had been separated from their families and kept in U.S. care had been sent home on a deportation flight that brought more than 200 migrants from Texas to Maiquetia airport near Caracas.

Cabello said the children had been "rescued" and cheered their return, after saying earlier there were 32 migrant children in the U.S. who had been separated from their families.

There would be "more movement" later in the afternoon and other arrivals, Cabello added, without providing more details.

The U.S. State Department declined to comment. The White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador in March after President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without going through normal immigration procedures.

Family members of many of the Venezuelans and their lawyers deny they had gang ties, and say they were not given a chance to contest the Trump administration's allegations in court.

Venezuela's government has always decried the CECOT detention of its citizens as a violation of human rights and international law. But the government's critics say the country holds activists and opposition figures in similar conditions in Venezuela.

The return of Americans held in Venezuela is a priority, Richard Grenell, a Trump envoy, has said.

Grenell visited Caracas in January, returning with six Americans who had been held in Venezuela, and in May flew back to the U.S. from the Caribbean island of Antigua with Joseph St. Clair, who had also been detained in Venezuela.